Lesson plan

SpotOption

SpotOption was a privately held platform software provider based in Israel in the controversial binary option industry, which was banned in Israel starting in January 2018. The firm announced that it has left the binary options business and is exploring other possibilities. It had previously announced a downsizing of its operations in Israel and moving many functions to other locations. The firm claimed to have 70 percent share in the market for binary options platforms, and charged binary options firms up to 12.5% of their revenues. The firm's office in Ramat Gan was raided in a joint operation between the Israel Police and FBI in January 2018. The FBI was searching for evidence in the case of Lee Elbaz. Elbaz, CEO of Yukom, a binary options broker, was accused of fraud. She was convicted of three counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in August 2019, and in December 2019 sentenced to 22 years in federal prison. As of March 2020 restitution to victims was still being decided but a figure of $28 million was being considered. Pini Peter, owner of SpotOption said his company has left the binary options business and "I’m considering closing the company down altogether." On 30 January 2018 Facebook banned advertisements for binary options trading as well as for cryptocurrencies and initial coin offering (ICOs).

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Article summary

SpotOption was a privately held platform software provider based in Israel in the controversial binary option industry, which was banned in Israel starting in January 2018. The firm announced that it has left the binary options business and is exploring other possibilities. It had previously announced a downsizing of its operations in Israel and moving many functions to other locations. The firm claimed to have 70 percent share in the market for binary options platforms, and charged binary options firms up to 12.5% of their revenues. The firm's office in Ramat Gan was raided in a joint operation between the Israel Police and FBI in January 2018. The FBI was searching for evidence in the case of Lee Elbaz. Elbaz, CEO of Yukom, a binary options broker, was accused of fraud. She was convicted of three counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in August 2019, and in December 2019 sentenced to 22 years in federal prison. As of March 2020 restitution to victims was still being decided but a figure of $28 million was being considered. Pini Peter, owner of SpotOption said his company has left the binary options business and "I’m considering closing the company down altogether." On 30 January 2018 Facebook banned advertisements for binary options trading as well as for cryptocurrencies and initial coin offering (ICOs).

Key claims

  1. date of foundation: 2011 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95

Discussion questions

  1. Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
  2. The record states that the date of foundation is "2011". What evidence would count against this claim?
  3. Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
  4. If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?

Bibliography

  1. Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1373985001

Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.